Ok where do i start . . .
There is a general perception about we Nigerians, about how dubious we are when it comes to material things, most especially money. It is a general saying that the average Nigerian man is a crook and will do anything for money.
This bad generalization about the typical Nigerian has gotten worse over the years, both home and abroad.
We all know that some Nigerians are crooks and could be really dubious, but we also know that there are in deed very good and honest Nigerians all over the world!
This story is really fun, my NYSC experience . . My posting etc etc. The koko of the story is to show that indeed, we have good Nigerians and most especially, Good hausa People!!!!
My Encounter . .
Finished my BSc in Computer Science in 2008 from the University of Lagos. As usual, every graduate feels joy and excitement after graduation, but somehow there is always this bitter taste of NYSC somewhere to spoil the fun. Mine was no exception . .
When NYSC postings came out, i was posted to Borno state . . yes BOKO HARAM state 😀 . I immediately got a map, and located the state on it . . I was speechless for over 30 minutes, my eyes turned red and it was as if the world came to an end!!!!
Anyways, i went to Borno state . . had fun in camp and then another posting was around the corner again. All the while i was in camp, i was meant to call a particular woman who was meant to help me get posted to the capital: Maiduguri, but somehow i over enjoyed my self and had fun in camp, and i forgot to call her. BEHOLD, I GOT POSTED TO MONGONU!!!
Mongonu is actually about 4 hours drive from Maiduguri (inside the same state o, imagine that). I got my posting letter, i was posted to “school of fishery, mongonu” . . it was then i called the woman i was to call, then she told me i had to go to where i was posted and get a rejection letter. . .
THIS IS WHERE THE STORY BEGINS . . .
Slept over at a hotel till the next morning, went to the park and boarded a bus to Mongonu . . The journey was just pathetic! long, dusty and dry . . Nothing to view all through the 4 hours, except deserts, empty local govt buildings at intervals, and Cows (i saw plenty of them). .
Before getting to Mongonu, the bus stopped at Kukawa and i saw people coming down, so i came down also . . and the bus left. It was until i asked a corper i spotted about where i was going, before i knew i got down at the wrong place! Mongonu was still one hour away! i almost cried . . I then asked him where to get another bus, he told me i had to wait till 2pm. By then it was still 11am in the morning and i was getting tensed!
i chilled till 2pm and boarded a bus going to Moongonu . . i got to the park (i heard one hausa dude singing Gongo aso, i was shocked!). Took a cab to School of fishery and located who was in charge of NYSC. The moment the guy so me, he could tell i wasnt coming there to accept the posting, so he said “do u want to accept or decline, i av both letters here for you” . . i was so happy and replied him “pls i want to deline”. he said no problem, and even bought me food and a drink.
After everything at the school, it was already around 4 pm in the after noon, and i didnt want to sleep at Mongonu (Maiduguri was 4 hrs away). I got back to the park, and i had to wait for about one hour before i finally told the driver that he shouldnt worry that i was gonna pay for every space in the Peugeot Station wagon. We left around 5:20pm.
it was after the journey started that i noticed that the car had issues with it’s light and stuff . . it was getting dark, so the driver parked, opened the bonnet and hit the head lamps before they came on. by then i was getting worried and shit . . on our way, the light went off twice and we both couldn’t see shit! The second time was so scary, when he managed to park, we were on the other side of the road and a trailer was facing us!!!!!!!!
I almost peed on myself, i had to come down from the vehicle to urinate and throw up!!!!!! yes i was that scared.
Finally we got to Maiduguri and our unsafe journey had ended, i got down and that was it. I took an achaba (hausa name for okada) to the hotel, and behold it was then i remembered: “MY WAIST BAG WAS GONE” . . Ok lemme brief u guys what a waist bag is, almost every corper has a waist bag on camp where u put all ur essentials and stuff. . Mine had everything except my fone! My money, my ATM, My cheque book, id card etc etc . . . Unknown to me, when i got down to pee i unstrapped the waist bag and forgot to strap it back when i got back into the car!!!
I couldnt speak hausa, and the achaba guy kept saying “ba turenchi” meaning i dnt understand english. i had to beg for money from a fellow corper i saw drinking at the bar to pay the achaba guy!
By then my mum started calling me, how she knew i was in trouble, i dnt understand . . I picked up and told her i was fine and nothing was wrong. . I then called the Woman who was to help me get posted, narrated my story and all. she promised to send a guy who could speak both english and hausa. That night was one of my worst nights ever, i dream’t all kinds of dreams, i dream’t that the bag was under the bed, i woke up and actually checked. . lol
That night i actually prayed to God after a long while, i so prayed till i was speaking in tongues . . whether the tongues were real or fake, only God knows. . lol
The following morning was the D – day! the search for my waist bag. The guy came over, asked me for the plate number of the car, i didnt know . . the color of the car, i didnt know, he asked me how the driver looked, and i still didnt know! then he said “only if God wants u to find that bag, thats the only way u will” .
We got to the park, and the guy whose name by the way is Tunde, started asking some of the drivers questions in hausa. we were at the park for up to 3hours, and without even understanding what the drivers were saying, i could tell from the expression on Tunde’s face that; my bag was as good as gone!!!
I mean i had no clue about the car, the driver, etc . . it was impossible for anybody to help us.
Just when we were about to give up and leave, this man approached us and spoke in hausa to Tunde and said “follow me”
we did, and he led us to his car, opened the door and brought out the bag! I WAS SHOCKED TO MY BONES!!!!!!!!!!!
i was more shocked when i opened it and met the money intact to the last. . . everything was inside, except my ID card which was in his hand. .
Apparently the man had been on a search for me with my ID card, all through the day till he saw me at the park with Tunde . . He said he couldn’t sleep at night because he was in custody of someone’s money and property, and that if he didn’t find me and return it that Allah will be angry with him!
I WAS SO MOVED AND SURPRISED AT THE SAME TIME, AND SAID TO MYSELF “WE NEED MORE OF THIS KIND OF PEOPLE IN THE SOCIETY”
That’s my story, hope you enjoyed it and hope we can all learn from it also. lets all be like the Good Hausa man, lets all be good Nigerians and someday our country will be good for it. . . A BETTER NIGERIA STARTS WITH YOU, what are u doing about it?
Looooool!!!! Tosin,you won’t believe I actually read this story like I was watching a movie and like it was happening to me. Pretty scary story but good one.
But on a serious note,the problem we all have is the fact that we tend to generalize. Not every Hausa man is mean,not every Yoruba man is dubious+not trustworthy and not all Igbos maltreat their daughter-in-laws. There are good people everywhere,same way the bad ones are littered everywhere also. An Igbo man found my wallet with over N9000 in it and called me (he saw my number in the Western Union slip I’d used a day before) and returned it.
I love the humour in the write-up. Well done!
am glad u like it. . . indeed there are good people in Nigeria
Nice true piece. Something close to this also happened to me When i was serving in Sokoto state though mine happened around 2am. Some abokis are actually very honest like my immediate boss who protected me during my stay in Sokoto. We need good heart in this country. God bless Tosin, God bless pmonkz and God bless Nigeria
Amen. . . GOD bless us all
I see we have something in Common Tosin. I actually also served in Borno state, but was lucky on leaving Camp. As I boarded the bus to Shani (2hrs + from Maid) ‘The call’ from my own ‘The Woman’ came that I should disembark as if I did go, she would be unble to reach me. So I found an hotel for the night. By the next morning, I got a call from an accountant in the Governors office. He not only offered me 2different houses (even after I had gotten a place to stay), he reequested me from Shani, absorbed me int the Govs’ office, signed all my monthly stuff (But I still took up work else where), he often checked on me, took me to his wives houses for lunch, in fact he was my Kanuri Uncle.
The current state of Maid & Borno as a whole ehn, just brings tears to the eyes of those that understand. I’ve evn been there after service just for fun,but now I can’t!
There are more good Nigerians dan d Bad one.
Just dat d Bad ones are really good @ being Bad.
There is Hope for Nigeria
Hope with action sha….
Nice piece!!!..ilike
pack
is spelt park….use your spell checker jare!….you puked? …lol…edit your write up….speaking in tongues…lol
My believe is that Nigerians are good people if only we have more of Tosin in our society not only when something bad has happened you come out and shout whereas the day a great favour was done you never came back to say thank you.
Nice one Tosin, I love the blog and am so inspired to start working on mine.
Yeah trust me, its fun …. Makes u wanna keep writing
Yeah Yomola thanks. .
I’ve always believed that the average nigerian is kind hearted and this just confirms it but it can never hurt to be cautious. Please note that there are a LOT of typos in your write up “waste bag” just made my eyes bleed. Pls try and edit your work
Lmao .. Tnx for reading tho.. Sorry abt the errors, I av corrected them
Is dis really true? I got carried wiv the humour in the story. So we still v people like dis in dis country. I swear I enjoyed every part of this write up,it’s like m watchin a movie…dis is lovely. M hopin for a naija wiv majority of d citizens like dt hausaman.
Nice piece mixed with humour……it takes one person to make a difference…….Good work
Lol! Waste bag made his eyes bleed!! hehe….
Yomola can’t you even say something nice?? Mscheew.
Tosin, good job jare. I enjoyed the post, and agree with your sentiments.
Jide thanks jare. . . . .
LOL …just seeing this!…I found it amusing couldn’t you conclude that? :p
Good you see is very difficult to find,but when you come across any pleas do the same to others so that we can live a better life.
Good read. Nice efizzy as well. U cud pick up writing as a hobby; its worth looking @. As for your story; there are generally nice people who are not christians and who challenge me daily in my perception of life. Interestingly; most of them are muslims. They actually av this culture of giving and theytend not to take what isn’t theirs. Apparently money and power intoxicates and that just might explain the few that are very bad and corrupt. In all; I wish Nigeria gets it right sooner rather than later and be proud to actually be called a Nigerian, anywhere on earth.
Was wondering if I could tag this piece of yours ”tragi-hilarious” going by the mixed experiences you had.The truth is, there are still quite a number of good Nigerians scattered all over the country.I look forward to that day when a Yemi would be able to vouch for an Emeka and an Obinna attesting to a Haruna’s intergrity.May God help us all.
Thanks, a better Nigeria will def come
How much did u pay Tunde & the hausa man as appreciation
The hausa Man refused wut we (myself and Tunde) offered. . .
🙂 so i like…
U wee grow @ writing soonest sha Big Bro mi. 🙂 …. Enjoyed the read anyways
u try ,this wrld is sure not a bed of roses, but hp this isnt a script?
The title says “my NYSC experience” ….. That should ans ur question
Great read. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
thanks . .
Actually, this is very cool. Really, nice write up, and cool for someone who needs a paradigm shift. Apparently we all do. Don’t we? I figured u might be interested in a related content.
http://dapsioni.wordpress.com/2012/04/05/hello-world/
This will help us erase the notion that all Northerns are killers and stuffs like that. Yeah a lot of ignorance exist over there in the North but on a good day they are hospitable people with a high level of morality. At least Tosin’s experience attest to that. I served in Jigawa and the kind of hospitality i got from the good people of jigawa is thoroughly amazing.
Reblogged this on Nigerianotontrack and commented:
The danger of a single story.
Lol..i like…good read..
sumfn similar also hapnd to me..a yoruba woman ds time..yeah,there are a few good men around..
Reblogged this on The aHmAd wAzIrI BlOg and commented:
My NYSC Experience in Borno
tosin kudos. I’m reading the write up lyk am watching a movie… It’s intriguing
Interestingly similar to my experience in same city of Maiduguri.I was lucky to locate the city after meeting my waterloo in the desert of Chad on my planned journey to the country of late Gadafi! I had no money to take a single meal and can’t speak Hausa!fortune came my way when a Good samaritan who had a fair understanding of English buy me a food and took me to a military base to raise small cash while one of them took me to a park the next day where I board a truck returning to Lagos without paying a kobo! The hospitality was so natural that it seem like a dream each time I flash back. At every stop-over the driver will bring his phone for me to talk to Abdul,just for him to be sure am ok. Two years latter we came together in Abuja in fact Abdul is more than a brother to me. Hausa are naturally kind people.